Irish-based staff at Meta informed of job cuts 

Tech giant announced in January that it would 'move out' the company's lowest performers 

In Ireland, Meta employs around 2,000 staff members, which has decreased significantly in recent years following several rounds of layoffs beginning in 2022. File Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

Staff working at Meta's Irish office have started to find out if they are part of the 5% to be laid off as part of the tech giant's latest round of global job cuts.

In January, the company announced it would cut about 5% of it 72,000 global staff members that it considers to be its lowest performers, reflecting around 3,600 people.

In Ireland, Meta employs around 2,000 staff members, which has decreased significantly in recent years following several rounds of layoffs beginning in 2022. In total, the company has cut more than 800 Irish-based staff in less than three years. 

The Financial Services Union (FSU), which represents Meta employees in Ireland, said it will run an advice centre helpline on Friday for impacted staff. 

In an internal memo sent to employees last month by chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, he said he “decided to raise the bar on performance management” to “move out low-performers faster”.

According to the memo, Mr Zuckerberg said the company typically “manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations for a year”, but was now planning on “more extensive performance-based cuts” sooner.

Meta said those who are laid off will be replaced, and impacted rolls will be backfilled, meaning the cuts are not redundancies but instead, performance-based terminations. 

The company also noted that it would provide "generous severance packages" to affected staff.

A spokesperson was not able to confirm how many Irish staff would be impacted by Meta's latest round of cuts. 

The company's performance-based cuts is its latest policy in a time of dramatic change at the tech giant, following its announcement last month that it was stopping its use of fact-checkers, starting in the US, and moving to a Community Notes system similar to X because fact-checkers were “politically biased”. 

The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and Threads, also said it would end its diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) programs, with Mr Zuckerberg telling the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that companies needed more “masculine energy”.

The Department of Enterprise and the IDA have been contacted for comment.